The Beginnings of the Busted Knuckle Garage - Chapter 13

Published

01/10/2019

Author

Warren T

Okay, so it's been a few months since attempting Chapter 13. Chapter 13 as it relates to this blog and not bankruptcy of the Busted Knuckle Garage. So anyone reading along might recall a motorcycle trip to the Grand Canyon and a return to Santa Barbara driving quite possibly the slowest car built by Ford in the 1960's...

So even living in America's French Riviera (Santa Barbara, CA) has it's shortcomings....like the mansion price rent of a hovel not to mention a few too many naps while in the classroom. But I was literate and one day while reading the famed "Santa Barbara News Press" want ads and so on (remember those), I came across an ad advertising work at the Grand Canyon. Hmmm, I had rather liked that big hole while there last year while exposing myself to heat exhaustion during an illegal summer hike. All I had to do was to interview at the Santa Barbara Biltmore with a representative of the Fred Harvey Company. Wait, Santa Barbara Biltmore? This demands a fine pair of jeans and ironing of my best t-shirt. My interview that day was with a guy named Tony Gressak who is now a "big cheese" with the Cheesecake Factory in California (for real, I'm not making this stuff up).

I was hired to be a full time gas station attendant at a full service Chevron station on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Full service no longer exists (Oregon & NJ excepted I think) and the Chevron Station no longer exists as well. It was to be a three month stint with $100 bonus paid if you stayed the full 90 days. How bad could it be if they had to pay you stay? Heck, I've had people pay me to leave.

So I bought this front wheel motorcycle hauler at Pep Boys and somehow bolted it to the back of my car (reference Ford's slowest car of the 60's above). To my knowledge, this type of "rack" is no longer available. I imagine it is because of the gazillion product liability lawsuits served to the manufacturer. In short, they don't work....not unless you want to watch your bike whiptail behind your car while at speed.

I made the 12 hour drive from Santa Barbara to the Grand Canyon in February 1978. Seems like 8 of those 12 hours was getting through L.A., even back then. I arrived late at night during a snow storm and landed at the Chevron where I would soon be working. Fast asleep at the desk was my future friend Don Furr (man of the Canyon) who I would spend many a laughs with and many a rides in his 1953 Chevrolet BelAir station wagon. Great vehicle, even had a significant dent in the driver's door that looked exactly like an aerial map of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. Amazing! And now I'm soon to start a 3 month adventure that eventually turns into 3 fun-filled and magnificent years. Color shot below reflects the look of the station prior to demolition. Opening Day photo below...love the attendant's uniform, so out-of-date and cool. And the Park Service uniforms, so out-of-date and so uncool that they still wear the same ones.